My Morty's Keeper
by CosmosWithoutHatred
Summary: In an alternate reality, Rick returns to his family, only to discover there's something terribly wrong with his grandson. Rated for language, please review.
1. One

One

Rick stepped out of the portal and looked at the house that stood in front of him. It wasn't a bad looking house, it looked like it cost a decent amount of money. He was sure it was just as decent on the inside; it was his daughter's house after all. He approached the front door and looked at the mat in front of it. It had a little dog on it and read: "Wipe your paws!" Ha ha. How cute. He looked back towards the mailbox, squinting at it. "Smith" was painted on the side. Smith, Smith... right, Jerry Smith. That's the boy Beth was dating in high school; and got her pregnant, no less. Such is life, he supposed, and you can't stop life from happening. Well. You can try. But whatever.

Rick knocked on the door. "I got it," was heard from inside. It was a feminine voice, but it wasn't Beth. Too young. The door opened to reveal a teenage girl with red hair tied back in a ponytail. "Oh. Um... hi." she greeted, not recognizing Rick. Rick didn't recognize her, but he had an idea of who she was. "Can I... help you...?"

"Yeah. I-I'm looking for Beth," he replied, suppressing his belching for a moment. "Is she around- i-is she here?"

"Uh, yeah. Hold on a second." She turned and yelled into the house. "MOM, SOMEONE'S HERE FOR YOU!" Rick winced and watched the 17-year-old walk away and disappear into the house. What a host.

Beth walked down the stairs and towards the door. "Hey, sorry about that, my daughter isn't usually so-" she stopped and her eyes widened. "...dad?"

"Hey, Be-egGHH-th." he belched. "Long time no speak- er, see."

She smiled a bit. "Well. Both." She kept smiling, trying to keep the emotions from washing over her. 'You're strong, Beth,' she thought. 'You got through vet school. You can have a composed, contained conversation with your dad. Even if it's almost twenty years coming.' "It's... it's great to see you, dad."

Rick raised one side of his brow, reading right through her. "C'mon now Beth." He held his arms out a little. "Br-uuURP-bring it in." Beth hesitated a little bit, but not too much, leaning in to give Rick a tight hug.

She led him into the living room, where Jerry was sitting in his recliner and watching golf on TV. "Here dad, I'll get you a drink. Lemonade okay?" Beth asked.

"Sure," Rick said, reaching into his lab coat to finger his flask. "You know me, I'll dr-uuuUGHGHH-drink whatever."

"Oh, grab me one, Beth." Jerry said. "If you don't mind..."

'Like you can't get it yourself,' Rick thought as Beth went into the kitchen. He didn't remember much about Jerry except that he was kind of entitled? Spoiled? Diluted? He vaguely remembered that Jerry was always wearing whatever classy fashion statement was popular when he and Beth first started dating. Hi-tops. Members Only jacket. Acid-washed jeans. Stuff like that. He though he was cool. Too cool to use a fucking condom, apparently.

Rick was snapped out of his thoughts when, speak of the devil, the devil spoke. "...Rick," Jerry greeted.

He took a swig from his flask. "Jerry." He replied. He could be civil enough. Just not while he was sober. They both fell quiet, the sound of golf announcers and some guy yelling 'bababooey' every time someone tee'd off filling the silence. Occasionally Jerry would whisper 'bababooey' along. Rick took another swig of whiskey.

Beth walked back out with a tray of lemonade, setting it on the table. "Tha-aaAAEGGHH-nks, Beth." Rick said, taking a glass and smiling a bit. "Oh look at that, got the slices in the dri- in there and everything. Swanky."

"Aw, thanks dad. I'll be right back. I'm going to go grab Summer." She said, walking into the hall.

"So... Rick." Jerry said. Oh god here we go. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?

"Thought I'd come say hi,"

"Really?"

"No." Rick replied facetiously. "Wh-when was the last time you s-aaAUGH-saw me coming to say hi, Jerry?"

"Just like old times," Jerry muttered to himself. Before they could start really bitching at each other, Beth and Summer walked in.

"Dad, you've met Summer," Beth said.

"Briefly."

Summer looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry about earlier, grandpa Rick," she said. "I didn't recognize you!" She held out a hand to be shaken.

Rick looked at her hand and shrugged, taking a sip of lemonade. "D-don't sweat it." Summer pushed her hand into her pocket, a little offended, but soon enough she forgot about it as she played with her phone. Beth sat down on the couch next to her father, while Summer pulled up a chair from the kitchen.

"So... um... dad," Beth began, a little nervous. "How have things been? What are you doing these days?"

"Eh. Same old same o-uurrgh-old. Actually, I-I'm in kind of a tight squeeze here, Beth. I need a place to crash. Do my research and work and everything." He explained.

Jerry's brows furrowed. "Well, Rick, you can't just-"

"There's a guest room upstairs," Beth interrupted. "And there's plenty of space in the garage to work on your projects." Of course she was gonna let him stay, even if only for a little while. Rick was her dad, and despite him being out of her life for such a long time, she was just glad to see him back. Jerry, of course, wasn't happy about this sudden decision, but Rick didn't give a fuck.

"Thanks, Beth. Y-ouURRGH-you're a lifesaver." He smiled and took another sip of lemonade. He looked around the room a little bit. "Hey, uh... where's the other one? Uh, uh," he snapped his fingers a couple times as he rattled off names in his head. Mmmmm... "Morty! Morty. Where's my gr-uurp-grandson?" Now, Rick wasn't really a participant in the whole Council of Ricks deal, but he did know a couple of Ricks who were. He heard them talk about their Mortys a few times, and he figured it might be beneficial to get into contact with his. You know. Human cloaking devices and brainwaves and all that garbage.

A hush fell on the group, the air feeling a bit... heavier all of a sudden. Jerry looked at Beth, Beth looked at Summer, and Summer looked towards both of her parents. They all had kind of an uncomfortable, hurt expression.

"...what?" Rick said, lifting half of his brow.

"Uhm..." Beth began, looking down. "He's... he's in his room." She stood up. "I'll take you to him."


	2. Two

Two

Rick wondered a bit why Beth hadn't just brought Morty into the living room like she had done with Summer, but whatever. Her house, her rules. "The guest room is right across from Morty's room." She said. "He's probably still asleep in here."

Oh boy oh boy, Rick sure was excited about this kid. Hah. It was probably three or four in the afternoon. What a slackass. "Doesn't he have, y'know, sc-ooUGH-school or something?"

"Morty doesn't go to regular school like Summer does," Beth replied. "He takes online classes."

"That's probably a good thing." Rick didn't know much about online school, but having some hang-ups about the public school system himself, he figured it was probably an improvement. Hell, it had to be. At the very least you weren't subjected to every fucking person judging you on your intelligence, or lack thereof, or whatever.

"We felt it was best for him," she said. "And, well... it's what the doctor recommended."

Rick cocked his brow. "Doctor," he repeated. "Wh-whuh why, does he have some problem with his head o-o-or something?"

Her mouth formed a tight line as she looked down for a moment. She finally sighed and gently opened the door to the boy's room.

The room was dark and quiet, save for the gentle humming of an air humidifier and a quiet beep or two from some other device that stood near the boy's bed. In the bed lay a bundle of covers and blankets which moved up and down in a slow, steady rhythm. The movement came not from the bundle of linens itself, but rather, the human curled up and facing the wall beneath them. A head of curly, brown hair could be seen, and just past the neck, a long, thin, transparent tube connected out from under the sheets to an oxygen tank. Another cord connected to the beeping device, which displayed a small number that could be read as a heart rate.

Rick frowned and squinted a bit, before turning back towards Beth. "What's wrong with UURGHP- wrong with him?" He asked. Fucking great. Of all the timelines Rick had to be a part of, it was the one with a defective Morty. Maybe if he left now he could go another dimension where that Rick wasn't there...

"Morty was born prematurely, and a day or so after he was born he had a heart failure. He lost some oxygen to his brain, and somehow, we're not sure, it caused further problems with his heart, his lungs, his stomach... on top of that, he goes into coughing and hacking fits, sometimes he has a hard time holding food down, and he gets so tired he has a hard time with walking long distances." Beth explained. "When he was in kindergarten, he wasn't really active like the other kids at recess, he'd fall asleep in class, he couldn't eat snacks without throwing some of them up later... one day he had a coughing fit and started choking on something, we weren't sure if it was food or something he was chewing on, but he was so exhausted after the ordeal, he passed out where he was sitting."

"Je-EEEGHH-sus Christ," Rick said.

"It seemed like it got worse in the first grade, he was expending so much energy and time with just being sick that he fell behind and got held back a grade. We decided to try online and at home schooling, and that seemed to click. So that's what he's been doing ever since."

Rick peered back into the room. Next to the bed, on the floor, was a little white dog, obviously too small to get on the bed. Under the dog was a round rug with a space pattern on it. This rather interested Rick, and he noticed that there was all sorts of science-related ephemera in the boy's room. Posters, action figures, hell, there was even a pennant that simply read 'science' hanging on the wall. Rick didn't want to think about it too much, but this reminded him a bit of himself. Not unlike his own room as a child. Rick shook his head a bit though once he realized how ridiculous that was. We were talking about a Morty here. There's no way this kid had THAT much potential. Especially with what fucking shape he was in. How was he gonna be of any use?

"...th-that really blows," he replied simply, belching in his mouth at the end of the sentence.

Beth bit her lip. "...yeah, it's... it's hard. We never know what's going to happen with him. He hasn't improved too much as he's gotten older, and 14 can be a rough age as it is." Her eyes began to water. "...the last time he went into the hospital, I was terrified. I thought it was gonna be it."

"What, i-i-is he dying or something?" Rick asked. Beth fell silent. His brow furrowed a bit. Uh-oh.

She wiped a tear from her eye and replied, getting more and more frantic with each point, "We don't even know what he has. His doctor keeps saying, 'it's fifty-fifty, we'll keep doing what we can.' I just... I don't know, dad, we take it a day at a time and we don't think about the negatives and the possibility he might not wake up and we're having problem after problem with our insurance and coverage and bills-"

Yikes. "Hey, hey," he put his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "Look at me. Look. Things- things are hard, I-I can see that. Ti-urghh-time is a fleeting and fragile concept, and so is life and death and it sucks being forced to face it head on like this, with your kid." Hell, if Beth was fucking dying of some disease as a kid, he never would have left. Rick was a sociopath, sure, he was a dick, yeah, but he loved his daughter and respected her. Her husband not so much, but that's besides the point.

She sniffled a bit. "I just don't know what to do. Jerry and I can't get along or agree on what to do about Morty. I think a lot of it is because we don't even know what's 100% wrong with him. We don't even know if his medications are working right, and it's getting hard to be able to afford them when we aren't seeing a difference. I'm stuck, our marriage is stuck, and worst of all Morty is stuck."

"Beth," Rick began, "I'm a genius scientist. I know a lot of shit ab-ooUUGH-about shit. I make things that are way beyond- way past what anyone can, can fucking fathom."

"I know, dad. I haven't forgotten the stuff you've made and the stuff you've done." Not to mention the places he went.

"Right. But what I'm sa-aaegh-saying is, I'm capable- more than capable of doing things doctors can't."

Beth looked at him knowingly. "You're saying you'd help."

"I'm not saying that," he replied. "I'm saying I could. Could, could is- that's the key operative."

She smiled warmly. Beth wasn't a fucking crazy genius like Rick, but she was very smart and just as attentive.

"...and besides," he said, folding his arms. "I wouldn't just live here for free or without doing anything or whatever. I'm not some- some parasite."

"...thank you, dad. That means a lot. To all of us." she replied. "...it really is good to have you back."


	3. Three

You wanted more, you got it. Also, there's more to come so stay tuned, y-you little creepy creeps.

Three

Eventually the dinner hour rolled around. Beth, of course, wasn't planning on having Rick show up, so they ordered Chinese food from a local place. It was cheap and plentiful as most Chinese joints will allow, and the good thing about Chinese food is that even the mediocre variety still tastes good. Rick had eaten worse things on his travels, after all. Morty didn't come down to eat right away. Beth explained that he never really ate on a set schedule; sometimes he was just too exhausted to eat with the family.

About fifteen or twenty minutes into dinner, Morty padded down the stairs and into the dining room, sort of hanging around by the door, looking a little confused and nervous. A cannula hung in his nose and the sleeves on his pajamas nearly covered his hands. "Oh, Morty!" Beth greeted. "Come sit down and eat, sweetie. Just pick out whatever you want, there's plenty."

Morty hesitantly wandered over to the table, wheeling an oxygen tank behind him. The only free seat was next to Rick, and Morty tensed up like any kid would if there was some strange old dude sitting at their dinner table. "Uhm..."

"Morty, this is your grandpa, Rick." Beth introduced. Rick was still chewing food as he held a hand towards the boy to be shaken.

He shook his hand timidly. "Oh. It's nice to meet you, grandpa Rick." His voice was quiet and slightly hoarse, and his small hands were shaky and frigid.

"Hey don't worry- don't sweat the formalities." he replied. "Just call me Rick, kiddo."

"O-o-okay, Rick." Morty gave a nod and looked towards the assortment of food on the table a little nauseously. As much as he loved Chinese food, he really didn't want to sit in front of the toilet and vomit all night.

Jerry took notice and spoke up. "Eat up, Morty. You haven't eaten today and you gotta have a full stomach if you-"

"Eat whatever you can handle, sweetie. It should be good in the fridge for a while, so don't worry about leftovers." Beth interrupted sweetly.

"O-okay, mom." Morty said, taking a couple of egg rolls from the container and placing them on his plate. Jerry shot Beth an annoyed look and Beth returned the gesture. Summer was playing around with her phone as usual. "Uhh... so. Wh-what do you do for a living, Rick?" He asked, scooping a small amount of noodles onto his plate.

"Whatever I want. But i-i-i-if you wanna get formal about it, I'm a-uurffh-I'm a scientist." Rick explained.

"O-oh, that's cool. I like science stuff." Morty smiled a little bit. "Do you do a lot of, like... experiments and stuff?" He took a bite of his egg roll as he listened to whatever Rick had to say.

"Yeah. I like to screw around with stuff a lot. I-I-I build things, sometimes I'll go on little- little trips if there's s-eeEUGH-something I need or whatever. Errands."

"Oh. Hey, maybe I could go with you sometime! Well, I-I-I mean if it's not, not a problem. You know."

Jerry waltzed into the conversation to interject. "Well, you know, son, you have a hard enough time going out and about already. And, you know what the doctor said, too much moving around will make you even more tired, and if you get too worked up or excited, you could have a panic attack and that's just no good for your heart or your lungs. It's best you stay home and get the rest you need." Morty frowned and looked at his plate in reply.

Rick furrowed his brow in annoyance. "Uhh, we were having an A-B conversation, Jerry. Be-eeeugh-sides, do you know how the immune system works? Your body can't build up an immunity to something it's not exposed to."

"You can't really expose yourself to illness if your immune system is faulty, Rick." Jerry shot back.

"Woah, Jerry, I-eugh-didn't know you had a PhD, when did you become a doctor?"

"I never said I was a doctor, I'm just being a concerned parent."

"Parenting is a verb more than it is a noun, Jerry."

"Like you'd know anything about that, Rick, since when did you become an authority on parenting? After you left your wife and daughter?"

"Hey, at least I didn't keep my kid in a bubble and put them in a hamsterball whenever they wanted to play outside. At least I LET my kid go outside."

"Morty goes out with us all the time, we can't just let him go everywhere on his own!"

"Oh, do you wipe his ass for him too?"

Beth loudly stood up from her chair. "Both of you, stop arguing!" At this point both Summer and Morty were staring down at their plates uncomfortably. "It's bad enough that Jerry and I can't agree on important family issues, but I'll be damned if every dinner becomes a screaming match between my husband and my dad! He's been here one day, Jerry. ONE DAY, and already you have something to bitch about!"

Jerry's eyes widened. "'Jerry'? What do you mean, 'Jerry'? I'm not the one who all of a sudden wants to pull a sick child out of his home to go who-knows-where!"

"U-uhm," Morty tried to speak up. Beth shot back at Jerry before he had a chance to do so.

"So what, Jerry? Maybe it'd help him, maybe if he had something to look forward to, like going and hanging out with his grandfather, he might feel a little better-"

Beth was interrupted by the sound of Morty getting up from his chair and leaving the room with his oxygen tank. Summer and Rick watched him disappear up the stairs. Beth frowned and sat back down while Jerry squinted facetiously at Rick. Rick gave him an equally dangerous look for a moment before eyeing the boy's abandoned plate. He only ate half an egg roll.

"...I'm... going to go eat in my room," Summer said, standing up from her seat. "I'll see if Morty's still hungry." She left without anyone saying a word.

Rick quietly finished his meal before standing up to leave the room. "Thanks for dinner. I'm gonna go get my shit. Don't bother me." With that, he was up the stairs and in his room, using his portal gun to warp to Plooby Gurpner's Inter-dimensional Storage. He didn't want his shit becoming the property of some creature who won his unit in an auction. He wasn't racist, but he wasn't about to let some Cryxorian get its slimy tentacles all over his property. Fuck that. Besides—he had a new project he wanted to start, ASAP.


	4. Four

Sorry for the delay. Had some stuff to deal with. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it, sorry it's so short.

* * *

Four

It was late into the night when Rick had finally got most of his stuff... not organized, but put somewhere. A lot of it went into the garage; it seemed like a good enough workspace and Beth was fine with it (he didn't bother asking Jerry). He was in said garage, setting up some stuff to build a machine of some kind, when Beth opened the door and peeked inside. "Everything alright in here, dad?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," Rick replied, screwing a bulb into a socket on what looked like a handheld scanning device of some kind.

"What are you working on?" She asked, walking inside a few feet and looking around the room. She eyed a box labelled 'Time Travel Stuff' before looking over at her father.

"A pro-aaAUGHH-ject," he belched. He wasn't specific, perhaps because he wasn't even sure if he was gonna use it anyway. It wasn't unlike Rick to build something and abandon it, only coming back to strip parts from it later.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I'm heading to bed. You know where everything is... and if you need me for anything, I'll just be in my room. You know." There was a very slight hint of neediness in her voice.

"I-I-I know. Goodnight, Beth. Have a good sleep-sleep well."

"Goodnight, dad." And with that, Beth left the garage, closing the door behind her.

Rick worked beneath the garage's pasty fluorescent lights for what probably added up to hours and hours, but when Rick was into a project, he didn't keep track of the time. It was a bad habit of his for years, but at some point, he stopped caring and just let it become part of his work ethic. Seeing how it was a project involving two parties, however (he ended up deciding to follow through with this one), he did glance up at the clock hanging above the washing machine. He wasn't entirely sure if it was an accurate clock, reading 4:52 in the morning, but he figured it was close enough. He got up from his chair to quietly walk out of the garage and into the house. It was time to fetch participant number two.

Morty was more asleep than awake by the time 4:53 AM had rolled around. This wasn't unusual for him; whether it was his scratchy lungs or his bitching stomach, sleeping wasn't always on the evening agenda. He glanced over to his desk, where his laptop sat, closed, and next to it, a plate of leftover Chinese food. He never finished his dinner from earlier, as he had pretty much lost his appetite after the screaming match between his family members broke out. He was about ready to stick up for himself this time, too—he was the one who suggested going out to run errands with Rick. He felt kind of bad for being the cause of the argument at dinner. On one hand, he sided with his mother and grandfather, thinking that, yeah, it might be good for him to get out more than he had been. On the other hand, he kind of understood where his dad was coming from. Every time he did go out with the family, he was always incredibly exhausted afterwords. Whether it was due to his illness or being around his tense and disjointed family, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure about a lot of things anymore, though.

Just as he was finishing up that thought, a knock came at the door before it opened a bit. "Morty," Rick said before he peeked inside. "Morty, are you in here?"

Morty slowly sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "Y-y-yeah," he replied sleepily. "Rick... i-i-it's almost five in the morning..."

"Yeah. I-I-I didn't wake you up or anything, right?" Not that it mattered, but Rick asked anyway because that kid looked he could use what little sleep he could get.

"No, I wasn't really sleeping, but I... I wasn't awake? I dunno..."

"Good. H-eeEGH-ey, listen. I need your help with something, Morty. Something, something important."

"Gee, I dunno, Rick... i-i-it, it's super late and I don't wanna get in trouble for walking around the house so late, o-or early..."

"You won't get into, in trouble, Morty. Besides, we're just going into the garage." He'd assess the need to go into another dimension or solar system later. "C'mon. It'll be good for ya. Do it for gra-aAGHGHH-grandpa, Morty."

"Well, it's... it's not like I'm going to sleep anytime soon... a-alright." His legs slid slid the edge of his bed until his feet touched the carpet.

Rick's expression turned determined. "Alright, Morty. That's taking life by the b-uuurghh, taking the bull by the horns. Grab your tank. I'll help you carry it down the stairs so it doesn't make a bunch of noise."


	5. Five

Five

Once in the garage, Rick had Morty sit in a chair while he flipped a few switches on the machine he was working on earlier. Morty looked a little nervous and played with his hands a bit impatiently. "Uhh... Rick? What's that?"

"It's a scanner." Rick replied.

"Oh. Like on, on a copier or something?"

"No no no. It scans _you_ , Morty."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uhm..."

"Relax, Morty. It won't hurt ya or anything—also, relax or else it w-oohhhgh-won't work right."

"A-alright Rick, I'll trust you." Morty took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders, arms, legs, everything he could physically relax on his own. Rick took the handheld scanner he was working on earlier and stepped over the cord which connected it to the machine on the table. The monitor on the bigger device read 'READY FOR INPUT. HOLD TRIGGER TO SCAN'.

"Hold out your wrists. Don't, don't worry about your sleeves." Rick said. Morty did so, and his grandfather aimed the scanner at the boy's left wrist, and held the trigger. A soft green light ran across its target, before a series of beeps sounded from the connected machine, as a light atop the scanner blinked. Rick let go of the trigger and repeated the same short, simple process along Morty's other wrist, above the heart, both lungs, stomach, and along the neck, in the place where one could find a pulse. The monitor then displayed 'READING DATA. ANALYZING SCANNED AREAS.'

"Now what's it doing?" Morty asked.

"What it says-urghh-it's doing," Rick belched in reply. The visual gauge at the bottom of the screen filled itself in a few seconds, before disappearing. 'PRINTING RESULTS. PLEASE WAIT.' A long piece of paper with a series of words printed in typewriter font rhythmically spilled out from the slot beneath the machine's monitor. It whirred and thumped like an old, old printer, which was probably what it had been repurposed out of. Once the long, receipt-like form had finished printing, Rick tore it from the slot and ran his eyes across its contents:

—Internal Diagnosis Scanner—

–Firmware Ver: 1.0.6–

-Scan Results-

SYMPTOMS:

•Palpitations (heart, stomach)

•Fatigue

•Shortness of breath

•Insufficient oxygen intake

•Vomiting

•Anxiety

•Easy bruising/scarring

•Increased blood loss (wounds, nose bleeds)

•Internal irritation (lungs)

•Coughing/hacking fits

•Ocassional fainting

•Occasional blood in vomit

•Occasional muscle aches

•Other assorted pain (heart, lungs, stomach)

DIAGNOSIS:

Nuero-Cardiac-affiliated Pnuemo-Gastral Repulsion, Earth Strain 635-A

–Scan Accuracy: 99.98%–

—END OF READING RESULTS—

"Jesus Christ," Rick muttered under his breath. Definitely not a good location for a theme park inside the human body.

"Wh-what? What's wrong?" Morty asked a bit frantically.

"You've got a loooooootta problems, Morty. I don't need to tell you that, I'm-uuURGH-I'm sure," he replied, walking over to his laptop to look up something. Morty wheeled on over to watch whatever Rick was doing. He had some sort of crystal attached to a USB plug which stuck out from the base of the computer.

"Wh-what does this do, Rick?" He asked, pointing to the iridescent, peach and coral-colored mineral.

"I-i-i-it's an unrefined Internite shard. It's a crystal with a structure bui-eeughgh-made up of Internet binary. I wired it to a USB drive so I can use it in a human-accessible, earth-built computer." Rick paused for a moment, thinking of how fucking confusing and stupid that must have sounded, but he continued anyway. "It's like a super-advanced modem. It basically lets me access the Interdimensional- and Universal-Wide Web."

Morty squinted at him confusedly.

"...I can look at websites from all over the universe." Rick simplified.

Morty's eyes widened in wonder and excitement. "Woahh! They have Internet in, in other galaxies? And you can go on any website in the universe you want? That's amazing, Rick!"

"You can, but you shouldn't go on just any website and download crap all willy-uURP-recklessly. Alien computer viruses are a bitch. And there's a lot of nasty illegal shit you can stumble onto if you're not careful, Morty. Stuff that burns into your-your retinas." As Rick explained, he pulled up an alien search engine in some crazy alien language.

Morty squinted at the screen. "How do you even read that...?"

"Gorgle Translate. Not always accurate but i-i-it gets the job done."

"Do, d-d'you think you can get me one of those crystals?"

"Why, so you can look at weird alien porn?"

Morty's cheeks flushed. "N-no!"

"Busted." Rick chuckled. Morty suddenly started coughing, breathing heavily between the wheezing and hacking. Rick looked over at him, then under his chair. A wheel was pinching Morty's oxygen tube. He harshly pushed the chair with his foot, freeing it. "Breathe, Morty. Breathe." He said, patting his back with force, but not enough to hurt him.

Morty gasped a little and replied hoarsely: "I-I-I-I'm okay, I'm fine now." His eyelids were wrapping sleepily around his wet eyes, pushing lethargic tears like squeegees.

"Y-y-y'know what, Morty, why don't you go get some sleep," Rick suggested. "You look like shit."

"What if we go somewhere?" He rubbed his eyes while Rick rolled his.

"God, what's the point of going anywhere if you're gonna nod off the whole time? Re-eeuughhh-reeeaaaal fun. Go to bed. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Yeah... you're-" Morty yawned. "You're right, Rick... I've got plenty of time to, to screw around in here..."

"Yeah. Maybe." Rick turned back over to WebMD's interdimensional counterpart.

Morty stood up from the chair and grabbed the handle of his tank. "Well, g'night Rick." He said as he slowly padded towards the door. "Y-you, you sleep well too, okay?"

"Yeah," Rick replied gruffly. "...hey, Morty." The boy stopped in the doorway and turned back to his grandfather, expression curious. Rick turned back to him, reaching into his pocket to pull out something and toss it the other's way. "Catch."

Morty caught the item, hands cupped around it, before slowly opening his palms to reveal what was inside. It was a spare Internite USB stick. "Wh-wh-wow, Rick... Thank you!"

"Don't mention it." He said, turning back to his computer. "No weird alien porn."

Morty's cheeks flushed once more, but he smiled this time before quietly going back into the house.

Rick sighed as he continued his research. Well fuck. Morty's disease was so obscure that it hadn't even been given a name or accurate diagnoses on earth yet, let alone proper treatment or a cure. After a few more tries on Gorgle, Rick had finally found some information he could use. He wrote down everything he could fit in a notebook, down to the name of the clinic they'd have to visit later. Rick was gonna get this bullshit with Morty squared away as quickly as possible; the sooner Morty got un-fucked, no matter how sloppy or painful it had to be, the sooner Rick could have him go on errands and do shit for him. Sure, that couldn't have been the only reason, but right now he wasn't about to go digging around in his heart and soul for that crap. Maybe later. Who knows.


	6. Six

Hey guys, sorry for the delay again, hopefully this long chapter will make up for it. ALSO, thanks for all the follows, guys! It means a lot to me!

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Six

The next morning at breakfast, Jerry already seemed pissy about something. Whether it was his lousy job or his failing marriage, Rick didn't know or care which when he walked into the dining room, he just went on complaining. Beth just listened and nodded as she always did, occasionally saying something to confirm that she was listening. Summer had already gone off to school, getting a ride from a friend. "Rick," Jerry 'greeted' as the older man dug through the fridge for something to drink or eat. "You didn't happen to see Morty up and about last night, did you?"

"I was in the garaaAAHGHGge all night," he belched.

"Huh. I thought I heard someone moving around upstairs. Maybe it was something outside."

"Don't be so paranoid, Jerry. Y-y-you know, maybe if you weren't so antsy about what goes on

in your house you wouldn't have so many problems at work or in your marriage or whatever you're bitching about." Rick poured himself a cup of coffee.

Beth stepped into the conversation to prevent another argument from starting. "You said you were in the garage all night. What are you working on, dad?"

"Eh, nothing-urrhp, huge. Actually, you know what, it's a surprise. I-it's a secret." Rick replied, taking out his flask to pour some liquor in his coffee.

"That sounds suspicious." Jerry squinted at him.

"Well, just don't burn the house down or anything." Beth said, as Rick began to walk out of the dining room.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said as he wandered back towards the garage.

Jerry looked back at Beth. "I think Morty was up last night. And I think Rick got him out of bed," he said once Rick was longer within earshot.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jerry." Beth said. "Rick wouldn't do that. Once he's working on something, he likes to be left alone. Besides, Morty doesn't sleep a lot at night anyway, so if he's gonna be up, I'd rather he spend some time with his grandfather than just lay around dwelling on his... problems."

Jerry sighed. "Beth, I know that Rick's been out of your life for years, but if there's one thing I remember about him, it's that he was always a drunken asshole. He's a bad influence."

"Well, maybe he's changed. I mean, I'm still surprised he came back after all this time."

"Uh-huh..." Jerry wasn't the smartest guy, but he wasn't stupid. He knew his wife well, and part of his knowledge was the fact that Beth had abandonment issues and was willing to sacrifice their comfort, and if push came to shove, probably their safety just so Rick would stay around. It's how it always was, even when he was absent from their lives; Rick was always a topic of miserable discussion, and Jerry had some resentment towards Rick because of it.

—

Rick worked in the garage for a while, drawing up some blueprints for a spaceship of some kind. By the time noon rolled around, Beth and Jerry had gone to work hours ago, and Rick wondered if Morty was up. Well, if he wasn't, whatever. Rick had shit he had to get done in other dimensions. Might as well drag the kid along so he'd get used to hopping from portal to portal.

Morty was in his room, racking his brain on some bullshit math problems, when Rick opened the door without even knocking. "Morty."

Morty jumped a bit. "Jeez, Rick, whoo... you startled me."

"Yeah, hey listen, I gotta run an errand, Morty. I need your help. Are you b-urrrrhp-busy?"

Morty glanced at his homework and felt his frustration build up further. He needed a fucking break. "...I'm not busy," he said, getting up from his chair. "W-w-where are we going?"

"You'll see, Morty." Rick pulled out his portal gun and stepped out into the hall. He aimed at the wall and, much to Morty's amazement, a green, glowing vortex appeared before his eyes. "Let's go."

"U-uh..." He was shocked. "Um. I-i-in there? What is that? Is it safe?"

"Don't be such a wet blanket, Morty. It's just a portal. Look," Rick stuck his hand into the whirlpool of light, pulling it out after a moment or so. "UUUURP- see? It's safe. It's not gonna hurt you. Now come on."

Morty grabbed the handle to his cylinder of oxygen, and before he could take a step towards the portal, Rick wrapped his hand firmly around his wrist, tugging the boy in behind him. Morty squeezed his eyes shut (a force of habit for him) as he walked through. It was a strange sensation, although fleeting and faint—it felt like walking through a wall of water without getting wet.

When he opened his eyes and breathed deeply, the air was not such a burden to take in, and the scenery was peaceful, as alien as it was. The sky was a minty teal, star-dotted clouds scraping the planet's stratosphere in faint arrays of white. They stood in a valley clearing atop soft, pink, moss-like grass, patches of indigo dirt peeking out here and there. Morty let his toes sink into the soft earth as he looked around at the mountains and forests around them. "...woah..." He murmured, stunned by the landscape. "Where are we...?" It was like something out of a daydream.

Rick, having been here many times before, wasn't nearly as enthused. "Lisa Frank's septic tank." He replied gruffly, before belching: "Haha, juuggghhhst kidding. No, this is, this planet is called Oorgel One, part of the Oorgel solar system. See, there's, that's the sun." Rick pointed to a small, neon-blue orb in the sky. "And that's the moon."

Morty turned towards the direction of Rick's finger to gaze up at a fantastically large and intensely close moon. It was a cold gray, striped with pale blue canyons rather than dots of craters. "Holy cow... it's so... so weird and... pretty? The moon is incredible."

Rick explained further as they began walking towards the forest. "It's not always this close, it has a weird orbit around this planet. Actually, a thousand years ago, or something, su-ooOOHGHH-per long ago, the moon scraped the fuck out of the surface, leaving this giant canyon in it's wake. It's crazy, Morty. It's massive. Scary big."

"Whoa... so... are there, y'know, aliens living here?"

"We're the aliens, Morty. If you're talking about sentient, or- or intelligent, independent life, like human-like things, then no. This planet is younger than ours, so it's not as far along on the e-eeEEEGHHGH-evolutionary timeline or whatever. There's plenty of animal and plant life here, though. 'N case you wanted to go hunting for weird foreign planet meat."

"Huh." As they entered the woods, Morty gawked up at the skyscraper-sized trees that surrounded them. They were all kinds of shades of pink and indigo, matching the ground they grew out of. "Hey Rick, should, should I have brought some shoes o-or slippers or something?"

Rick waved his hand dismissively. "Nah. The ground here and everything is pretty harmless. Don't worry abooouuughhht it and just, just enjoooyyy the grass under your feet or whatever. Hell you could pick flowers for all I care. Just don't get lost." Morty smiled as he walked by a bush full of flowers, their fractal-shaped petals colored in gradients. He wouldn't have minded getting lost in a place like this.

They walked for a few more minutes, or perhaps hours (Morty couldn't tell which, as time seemed to go by faster here). They reached a gentle stream and stopped in front of it, Rick kneeling down and reaching into his lab coat for a liquid container of some kind. The water was crystal clear, but tinted a serene green, perhaps due to some mineral. Little fish (?) moved around like tadpoles in the water, but instead of being covered in scales, their short, thin bodies looked to be covered in shiny, smooth coats of fur, almost like otters. They had two sets of eyes, but no mouths, nor fins or feet or whatever. They were cute, but very weird. Morty kneeled and sat next to Rick, watching him work. "What are you doing, Rick?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Morty." Rick grumbled. Then again, Morty probably didn't get out much. He should try to be nice. "...but that's fi-iiIIIGGHHNGN-ne. I'm getting some of this water."

"I'm guessing it, like... has some sort of mineral or chemical in it, right?"

"Exactly right, Morty-urrp-y'see this water, what makes it green is the, the mineral, uh, uhh... krytzonite. I-i-it has a chemical reaction that separates the mineral bonds in the liquid and combines with the atomic structure of the krytzonic minerals, and if you drink it, Morty, i-i-it'll make you hallucinate. You'll trip balls. And, and, so do the other animals, when they drink it... but not those fish. They live in it and they're fine."

Morty looked at the fish and put his fingers in the water. It felt like normal water. "Why's that, Rick?"

He took a large bottle and filled it with the water. "I dunno, Morty. Y-y-you think I know everything? I'm taking this water, a-a-and I'm gonna take one of these fish, too."

"Y-y-you're not gonna hurt it, are you?"

"I'm gonna put it in regular water, and watch what ha-aaagghghh-happens. Maybe it'll freak out or something, I dunno."

"Ohh." Morty looked back at the fish, his expression a little sad or concerned. One of the two, if not both.

Rick noticed this and rolled his eyes. "Uuugggghhhhh.

Do you want one? A-as a pet o-or something?"

"Oh. W-w-well, I-"

"I GUESS I could sacrifice some of my water for your damn fish. God."

"W-well, what were you gonna use the water for?"

Hallucinogenic cocktails. "Science. Urrp- I was going to use it for science."

—

The duo returned home just as they came, through a portal in the hallway. Morty thanked Rick for the fish, the science lesson, and the adventure, but apologized for not being a big help.

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "What- why are you apologizing? I-i-it's fine."

"W-w-well I mean, you asked me to go with you to help you with your errand, and it just... it seems like I kinda. Got in the way? I'unno. I didn't really do anything, y'know, helpful." Morty looked down at the plastic bag in his hands, frowning a little bit as his fish swam around in the mineral-laced water.

Rick sighed, feeling frustrated with Morty's whining, before quickly reminding himself that this kid had a terminal illness that gave him anxiety and blah blah blah. "It's fine. Don't feel like-urrffh-don't be like that, you weren't in the way or anything. You just followed me around. Big deal." He folded his arms. "Besides. I-it's been a while since I had a-a sidekick."

The boy perked up, looking up at his grandfather. "You, you liked my company...?"

"Well when you say it like that, you make it sound like we're in a, a soap opera or some shit. Don't be so sappy. Anyway, listen. I'm going to be working on some stuff, and then, we're going to get you looked at by a doctor who knows what he's doing. Or, she, or they, whoever—point is, I'm taking you to a doctor that can actually help ya, alright?"

His eyes widened a bit. "Really...? They'll figure out wh-what's wrong with me?"

"Hopefully, Morty. Hopefully. I can't make any promises, so doOOOUGHHn't get your hopes up or anything."

Morty blinked a little bit, surprised and a little amazed that there could be a doctor anywhere that could help him more than his current one could, and his lips turned up into a smile. "...thanks, Rick." Morty turned towards his bedroom.

"Morty, wait." Rick said. Morty turned back and looked up at him expectantly. He pulled a jar out from a pocket in his lab coat (how he kept pulling item after item out from its pockets, Morty couldn't fathom), handing it to the kid. "Put your fish in here. I don't think it eats anything."

Morty smiled and took the jar into his arms, thanking Rick again before he disappeared into his room. He didn't really come back to his math homework; he kept getting interrupted by excited thoughts about his day. He couldn't stop thinking about the planet he just visited, and the fact that he went to a whole other planet and how smart Rick was, not to mention, kind enough to let him tag along. He wondered a bit why Rick was doing such nice things for him, and oddly enough, Rick wondered the same thing.


	7. Seven

Seven

After a day or so, Rick got his spaceship completed, much to Jerry's chagrin as it took up quite a bit of space in the garage. "You can't just keep a spaceship in my garage," he complained, but Rick explained that it was too damn big to park in the street, and it would take up too much space in the driveway. Jerry bitched about it some more while Rick ignored him, and eventually, Jerry just got fed up and finally left Rick alone.

Morty was just passing by the garage door when Rick called to him. "Hey. Hey, Morty. C'mere, I wanna sh-ooOOUGHH-ow you something."

Morty quietly padded into the garage, eyes widening at the vehicle Rick had built. "Whoa..." It was built out of junk and garbage, sure, but it was impressive nonetheless. "This is what you were working on? Boy, that was fast, Rick." His fingers ran gently across the metal surface of the ship. "What can it do?"

"What can it do? Morty, i-it's a spaceship. It can fly, in can drive like a car, it can shoot lasers out from it-"

"Woaaahh!"

"And! And, it has a bitchin' stereo system. Pl-uuUUUGH-us a lot of other crazy useful shit, but, that'll go right over your head if I try to explain it."

"Can we, can we take it for a ride, Rick?" Morty bounced excitedly a bit.

"There's not a whole lotta fuel, Morty."

"Aw." He looked down a little disappointedly.

Aaaaggghhh. God damn it. "...but maybe we could ta-aaAAAYGHGH-ke a little trip to go get more."

Morty perked up. "Y-y-you mean it?"

"Yeah, just go see if it's okay with y-y-your mom first."

Morty nodded happily and left the garage, returning after a couple of minutes with an excited expression. "She said it was okay," not that he said where they were going exactly or what they were traveling in, but Beth seemed pretty open to Morty going out for a bit, regardless of the details.

"Alrii-IIIGGHH-t," Rick belched. "Let's roll." He opened the door and got in, unlocking the passenger side and starting the ship up. Morty got in and placed his oxygen tank in the back before buckling up. He eyed the stereo console embedded in the dashboard before reaching for its dial. "Ah-tut-tut-tut-tut-taaah," Rick patted the boy's hands away from it. "I'm the captain here, biiiIIIITTTCHhhh, I get to pick the music." He turned through a few radio stations before he found something he liked. He drove out of the open garage and down the street, driving down a bit more before the ship began lifting off the ground.

"W-w-woah," Morty said nervously.

"Hold on, Morty." Rick said, gripping the stick shift and shifting the vehicle into another gear. The space between them and the ground grew larger. Morty watched the buildings and streets of their neighborhood get smaller and smaller as they lifted into the sky. They ascended higher and higher, with Morty getting more tense by the minute. "Don't look out the window if it's gonna freak you out."

"Boy Rick, you weren't kidding, wh-when you said it could fly," Morty said, looking both nervously and excitedly up at Rick.

"That's because I don't fuck around with my work, Morty. If I did, we'd be dead already."

"So where are we going?"

"We're leaving Earth and heading to a nearby planet where I can collect fuel. This ship runs on all kinds of shit, Morty. Just not gas because it's fucking eeEEGGHxpensive."

Morty stared out the window as they left Earth's atmosphere, stunned at how bright the stars were and how freaking many there were. He'd never seen such scintilla so clear and so close. "Wow... Rick, this is, this sure is something, y'know?"

Rick smiled just a little. "If you like that, Morty, hang on tight—I'm gonna kick it into WARP SPEED, DOG. Seriously though, hold on to something. I dunno how intense this is gonna be."

Morty gripped onto the beat-up armrests on either side of him and braced himself excitedly. Rick gripped the stick shift and pushed it forward. He cocked his brow and looked at his grandson adventurously. "Ready?" Morty nodded a bit. Rick pushed the stick down, the shaft locking into place with a loud clunk. The ship began shaking, rattling loudly with the sound of metal shaking against more metal. The two were pressed back into their seats as they sped forward, a wicked green flash of light stretching before them like a kaleidoscope in 3D. The hue shifted as they ripped through the bright tunnel, until they finally reached the end. The stick shift popped back up into it's previous position.

Morty rubbed his eyes. They were still in space of course, but the surroundings were a little different. He couldn't recognize the planets they were flying past, under, and towards; hell, there was even one shaped like a donut. "Is that a _planet_ , Rick?"

"Sure is, Morty. In fact, that's our-uuurrrffh-stop. This is CGD-190, but fuck that. I call it a donut. It's kind of a weird place. It orbits their sun like earth does, but instead of rotating on an axis like, like a spit, it rotates like a clock. So while one side always sees the the sun, the other almost never does." Rick pointed to hold in the center. "We goaAAUGHtta go there, on the edge of the dark side."

"So where the 'glaze' ends stops covering it?"

"Not a bad analogy, Morty; but yeah, that's-that's it."

In a few minutes, the ship entered the donut's atmosphere, landing on its surface soon after. Rick parked and unbuckled his belt, opening the door a bit. "Rick," Morty said, interrupting the man. "W-w-wait for me."

"No, no, Morty. You gotta-urggh-you gotta stay here. The dark side is full of all sorts disgusting nasty critters and monsters. It's not safe."

"Aw, Rick, I-I don't wanna stay here alone..."

"Well, i-it's stay here alone, where it's safe, or go get lost and get eaten, or worse, get fucked in eye sockets, Morty. I recommend the first option. Now stay here, I'll be right back. If I'm not back within an hour, then you can come look for me. Take a-a nap or something." Rick got out, closing the door behind him, before opening one of the trunks in the back and taking a big backpack with him. Morty watched his grandpa wander off into the darkness, sighing to himself before closing his eyes and leaning back to take that nap.


	8. Eight

Eight

When Morty woke up again, he felt like he had been asleep for hours. He wasn't sure how long he had been out for, but it was only a few minutes before he got anxious and panicky in his own company. Should Rick have been back by now? What if he got hurt, or Rick abandoned him, and Morty had to find his own way home? How was he going to even get home if that was the case? What if he was stranded? That was not an option; if he didn't get home, he wouldn't be able take his meds on time and go to the doctor and-

He didn't waste another second dwelling on that. He undid his seatbelt and opened the door to get out, taking his tank and a flashlight along with him. He wandered, calling out Rick's name over and over with no reply, until he had no choice but to walk into the inky darkness.

He pointed the flashlight in front of him, calling for Rick's name every so often as he walked. This was met with zero results for a while, until Morty heard some kind of... gurgling noise. He thought, hey, Rick gurgles sometimes because he drinks so much, so he turned around along with his flashlight.

The light revealed a hideous mixture of flesh, teeth, eyes and quill-like hair on the face of a monster, one like Morty had never seen in the movies or in his nightmares. He couldn't tell where the beasts's head ended and its body began, nor could he see its legs; it almost seemed as though it was fused to the earth on which it stood. Morty stood in the barrel of the beasts's vision like a deer in headlights, too scared to scream or run or even piss himself. Before he could even think about one of those options, the creature hissed and its tongue lashed out, sticking to Morty's legs as it wrapped around both of them. He gasped, watching the wet muscle tie him up like a mustachioed villain tying a woman to train tracks. Fear settled in his throat. Just as the abomination dragged the boy into the jagged cavern that was its mouth, Morty let out a scream so shrill it would make any human beings' ears curl inward.

"R-RIIIIIIIIIIIICCK!" He had never screamed so loudly in his life. He squeezed his eyes shut as the monster pulled him about halfway into its slimy maw. Suddenly, he heard a loud, echoey crash, before a pained screech and the smell of burning meat followed. Morty didn't open his eyes as he felt his body shift and be pulled in the other direction. The slimy tongue restraints loosened and fell away from his frame, and in a matter of seconds, he felt his feet touch the ground.

"Morty, look at me."

Morty opened his eyes to see Rick staring him down with his own. "Rick!" The boy exclaimed. "Y-y-you, you're-"

"Are you hurt?" Rick interrupted.

"Well, no..." Morty replied.

"What the _Hell_ are you DOING OUT HERE, MORTY?"

Morty flinched a bit and tried to grasp an answer. "W-well, I, I-"

"What, did you decide to take a piss on the dark side of the fuckin' world? D-did ya think, oh, I'll go hang out and see what Rick's doing? I told you it was dangerous out here, Morty! A-and I specifically TOLD YOU to wait behind, and sit in the ship. I didn't think that'd be such a fucking challenge buUUGGHt it looks like you found a way. You've out-fuckin-done yourself, good job, way to go, you're going back to the car and staying PUT. You hear me?"

"...yes, Rick."

"Good." Rick grabbed the boy's wrist and started walking, effectively pulling him in the direction of the ship. "You can explain whatever bullshit reason you left the ship on the way home. I-I'm nearly done here."

Morty followed Rick back to his ship before he was pushed inside, having barely a chance to get in himself. Rick lifted the boy's oxygen canister through the door before pointing at him sternly. "Don't. Move. I'll be baaAAAGHck." Morty simply nodded in reply before Rick turned away and wandered towards the darkness.

Morty was given a decent amount of time to think of an explanation, though he doubted it would do any good once he saw Rick coming back. The scientist disappeared behind the vehicle, most likely loading whatever stuff he found for fuel into... wherever it went, Morty supposed. He didn't look at Rick as he got into the driver's seat and started the ship. They had already left the planet's atmosphere before someone said something. "...I'm... I'm sorry for leaving the ship, Rick. I-I-I fell asleep and lost track of time, and I thought I was asleep for a lot longer than I-"

"45 minutes, Morty. I was gone for forty-five minutes before I had to drop what I was doing and come save your dumb ass." Rick replied, pulling his flask out and taking a swig from it, as he always did.

Rick's sharp words were already cutting Morty's confidence. "W-well jeez, Rick. I was, I was getting anxious a-and-"

"Yeah, so because you can't sit still for one goddamn hour, I have to come back here and get more shit tomorrow. For fuuUUUGHck's sake, Morty, I didn't bring you along to- for, for me to have to babysit."

"Well- I could have helped you with your errand, or stood watch or something, I-I-I can protect myself, y'know?"

"Obviously you can't."

"I can figure stuff out!"

"Not simple shit like 'stay put', apparently."

Morty's eyes grew wet with tears. "I can be useful, Rick!"

"Not when you're DEAD, Morty."

"Well maybe it'd be better that way!" His small hands balled into fists as tears lingered on his lashes, ready to spill. "Maybe it'd be better for everybody- I wouldn't be such a, a, a stupid burden! I-I see the bills my parents have to pay for my, my health, the fights they have, how they hang around each other for my sake when I know they'd be better off divorced; Summer doesn't get any attention from mom or dad and I can tell it bothers her because she's barely at home, and when she is home, sh-she doesn't want to hang out with any of us. They suffer, and I suffer- I-I-I sleep all the time and I hurt, I _hurt_ every day, and my medicine just takes me out of everything so I get bad grades in class-" his speech had evolved into full-on sobbing at this point.

"A-and I don't even go to regular school! I take online classes, and I still feel like a reject! I have no friends, no girlfriend, no life, no future. I'm going to die, Rick. I'm going to die and then it'll be over, everyone can go on and do what they want to, they can enjoy life without me. They have dreams they can, can follow or something, but not with me in the way, and besides, the sooner I die the sooner I'll stop hurting... S-so you know what? You're right, Rick. I can't fend for myself and everyone has to look after me and take care of me... I'm already useless..."

Rick stared at Morty, who was already curled up, hugging his knees, and breathing heavily, having expended so much energy in his outburst. He was honestly impressed at the fact that, Morty, a nervous, clingy, awkward teenage boy, was so attentive to the people in his life and their struggles, putting them at the forefront of his worries. He was selfless, though Rick knew he wanted to have selfish moments to revel in and be happy about. He wanted to be brave and have fun.

He was surprised that Morty had so much laying beneath the optimistic surface, things more harmful than his physical ailments. His bodily pain was a sliver, a hangnail, in the long run it hurt the kid no more than a papercut. His misery was the symptom that threatened his life most, no doubt. No wonder the kid slept so much; what's the point in being awake when you feel dead already? Sure, it was obvious Morty cared about taking his medication and everything, but there comes a point where the remedies they prescribe are no more than a distraction that becomes just as monotonous and repetitive as the symptoms they postpone.

"...holy shit," Rick finally sighed. "Morty, I didn't-"

Morty looked at his grandfather, tears still streaming down his face. "Didn't what, Rick? Didn't think I could stand up for myself?"

"No, no, Morty. Listen... I shouldn't have left you alone in the ship. It was dangerous back there and I haaAAGHHven't even installed a security system in here yet. I-it was stupid of me, and that's a rare occasion, Morty. I should have brought you with me. You'd be- you would have been safer then because I have a gun but- th-the point is, Morty, I have a role in this and I shouldn't have blown up at you like I did. I know I bitch lot but I don't do it to be mean. I'm just an asshole by nature, Morty. And I'm... sorry that I thought of my chores and errands before your safety or comfort. Alright?"

Morty wiped his face with his sleeves, sniffling as he looked over. "...does this mean I can't go with you anymore? O-on your errands and stuff...?"

"Pfft, Hell no. You and me both, Morty, we got places to go, people to see, a-and whatever else, I can't do it all by myself. I'm a capable man buUUGHt I'm an intergalactic criminal, I need a partner in crime, and you're it."

"M-me? Oh, jeez Rick... I don't want to break the law or anything."

"Morty. We haven't done anything illegal yet and you're already whining about ethics. Y-y-you think laws matter, Morty? Look around you. This, this universe, and the multiverse, it's huge, vast, and we are small, Morty. We're not shit but we're all we've got. We're a package deal. A team. If they take me, they're gonna take you too."

"Oh boy, Rick... that, that sounds pretty intimidating..."

"Morty, you have a deadly illness and you're worried about getting in trOOUUGHGHHble? C'mon, live a little, be somebody, do something, have fun. Now a-are you in or are you out?"

Morty looked up through the glass dome of the ship once more. He looked at the stars and planets and felt an interest in him blossom into a hunger. At home, he wasn't really going anywhere in life because of his illness. He barely went out and about to do mundane things like grocery shopping, let alone do things that were exciting and adventurous. He figured he probably won't live a long or full life, and his mind is barely expanding as it is. Having a learning disability and having to stay home with an illness wasn't an ideal life, no doubt, and maybe going on adventures with his grandpa wasn't ideal either, but at least it was _something._

Morty turned to Rick with a smile. "...y'know what Rick...? I'm in."

"Alright Morty," he replied somewhat enthusiastically. "Now let's go home, y-you smell like shiIIIIGGHt." Rick turned the dial on the stereo and they flew home to "Mo' Money Mo' Problems".


End file.
